Some 29 Community Law Canterbury (CLC) staff say they are concerned about the appointment of new chief executive Lawrence Kimberley, a former Anglican priest.
CLC provided legal services to many survivors who gave witness statements to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in faith-based institutions.
It also acted for clients in claims against faith-based institutions.
Most staff say they hold Kimberley (pictured) “no personal ill will”.
They also admit they are “conscious” of the fact that they have not met him.
Staff concerns
Staff wrote to the CLC board and outgoing chief executive regarding Kimberley’s appointment and selection process.
They were worried how some survivors might react to having a former Anglican priest lead the community law organisation.
They said some staff “hold serious concerns about how some survivors we have assisted in engaging with the royal commission will view… a former religious leader as the head, face and voice of CLC”.
Another staff concern questioned the new chief executive’s possible response to having 11 openly LGBTQIA+ staff.
They said they believed the board had not considered this.
“The fraught and complex relationship between religious organisations generally and LGBTQIA+ communities is well documented” they wrote.
Several staff were considering resigning. Ten already have.
Serious issue
In January, a Public Service Association (PSA) organiser wrote to the New Zealand Law Society’s Canterbury-Westland Branch about CLC health and safety.
It voiced its concerns about CLC lawyers’ ability to meet future practice obligations.
Canterbury-Westland Law Society president Lana Paul said she had received communications from both the PSA and CLC’s board offering different perspectives of events.
She answered both letters and has not heard further from the PSA.
Reverence and respect
Kimberley says since his appointment, ten employees had left CLC. They have since been replaced.
“Some of the staff who left did so before I started so I didn’t even get the chance to meet them” he says.
He accepts some churches and religious organisations are “quite strident” about their views on several issues.
For himself though, he says he makes his own mind up, believing “wherever there is love, there is God”.
As a practising Anglican, he says it’s “difficult sometimes” to be associated with a church that in a “global sense” is discriminatory.
“It makes me feel angry because of the hurt that is caused to the rainbow community, but also very motivated to… overcome and try to change those views.
Every human being must be treated with reverence and respect, he says.
Board response
CLC board chairperson Jenny Hughey defended Kimberley’s appointment.
The process for the October 2023 appointment was “robust and professional” and the board was confident the best candidate was appointed.
CLC respects all people regardless of gender, religious beliefs and race – values and beliefs which Kimberley’s match exactly, she says.
Commenting on staff leaving without meeting Kimberley, Hughey said “unfortunately, perception has clouded reality”.
“If they had spoken to him or taken time to work with him, they would know his views and what kind of person he is.”
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